The Past, Present and Future
by Potterhead2739
Summary: Typical character read when some demigods go back to the past to see if the Gods can change the future. Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, all rights go to Rick Riordan. R&R please. Rated T for language.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Well how do I begin to explain this mess? I mean really the Gods ruin everything but so do those heroes. Guess I should start from the beginning then. Agh this all began with Apollo's fates they're such jerks. The future isn't something I like to have people mess with. Well except heroes I mean that's their point really and at least they only change some fate not everything, like their own prophecies. Still if that boy hadn't been so depressed after the blooming war it would have been fine but no he had to go and ask the fates if he could have an audience with the Gods in the past to change the future. Not only did he have to go but he just had to drag other people with him. Why am I being so judgemental you may ask? Well I created this world and these mortals are changing it but maybe not in the way they hope. I am Chaos, creator or protogenoi of the universe and technically parent of Gaia and Tartarus and all of that lot. I am a neutral and my powers are completely chaotic as my name suggests. They are calm but crazy, peaceful but warlike, beautiful but ugly. Well that's hardly the point but just so you know.

Now this all started on a peaceful day on Olympus, well not peaceful because Zeus' daughter had been turned into a tree a few days ago but you know what I mean. So it's the day of the winter solstice and as per usual Apollo said something stupid and Hades was being as whiny as ever about how big his kingdom was getting when he said something to ruin everyone's day.

"I have noticed that the gates of Tartarus are getting weaker." He said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Well why don't you fix them?" Demeter asked him angrily, she still hates him for the whole kidnapping thing.

"And how do you suggest I do that." Hades snapped back. Demeter fell silent, she might hate Hades but even she knew it was a bad idea to argue with him about that place.

"You're The Lord of the underworld-" Zeus began but he was cut off by a blinding light and suddenly there were seven people in the room.

"Who the Hades are you?" Hera asked.

"I'm Percy and this is Annabeth and-" but he was cut off when Zeus waved his hand

"I do not care for your names, why are you here?"

"The fates sent us back in time to save the future." The boy called Percy answered. "We're demigods who have a sucky future and since you're you know Gods we thought we could lend you a hand in helping the future."

"Well that clears everything up." Apollo said and then he yelped as five books were dropped on his head. "What the Hades?"

"You know since I'm right here this is getting really annoying." Hades drawled. The Gods looked at him, he had a point since he was sitting right there and they were using his name in the cursing way.

"Sorry uncle, anyway what are these." Apollo said holding up the books.

"They're books." Hermes said.

"You don't say Hermes I thought they might be lyres." Apollo said sarcastically.

"I really wouldn't put it past you." Artemis said.

"Aw sis you know you love me really." Apollo said.

"Look your fates sent us to-." Percy tried again but he was interrupted by Zeus.

"You say you're demigods from the future and I presume that these books will explain this sucky future that you speak of. So I have decided that you will tell us your names and your parent then we can start to talk about this future." He said suddenly seeming like a business man. Percy swallowed clearly he hadn't expected to say his name and parent so soon.

"Well I guess we should get it out of the way um Annabeth why don't you uh go first." He said. They exchanged looks and Annabeth nodded.

"I'm Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena." She said looking up at the Gods. Athena smiled at her daughter. Two boys who looked almost identical stepped up.

"I'm Travis Stoll and this is my bro Connor." The taller one said.

"We're Hermes kids." The boy who must have been Connor said. Then a girl with brown hair who looked like she would deck if you looked at her funny came forward.

"I'm Clarisse La Rue daughter of Ares." She said boldly.

The three demigods at the back exchanged looks as if silently deciding who would go first, finally the boy with messy black hair and the aviator jacket stepped forward.

"I'm Nico di Angelo son of Hades, just so you know I was born before the great prophecy thing was made." He said, the Gods looked slightly shocked.

"Hades I thought the boy was dead." Zeus said trying to keep calm. Hades rolled his eyes.

"No after you tried to kill him and his sister I took them to the lotus hotel and casino, if you don't like it deal with it." The death God said. Zeus looked as if he wanted to tear Hades head from his shoulders but he sat back down shooting his brother looks of disgust. The girl at the back stepped forward. Her hair was black and her eyes electric blue, on top her head lay a silver halo symbolising her as a lieutenant of Artemis.

"Now I know this is going to cause a stir but I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus." The Gods all exchanged looks and started muttering, words like tree and last week were caught and Thalia raised her arms in mock surrender. "Yeah I was a tree but hey I heal good." The others around her snorted as if sharing some private joke.

"But Thalia how even I don't possess the power to turn you back." Zeus said as if he didn't believe her.

"Um I'll explain in a minute." She said uncomfortable with the attention she was getting.

"Don't know if this is the best time but I'm Percy Jackson and I'm the son of Poseidon." The last boy said and Hades let out a bull like roar.

"So you broke the oath too after making me swear to it." He yelled.

"I was just following my brother's example." Poseidon said.

"What the Tartarus was the point of the oath if both of you broke it." Hades said.

"I find it ironic that Hades is the only one to keep the oath." Athena said.

"You see this is why I don't get on with you lot you always think I'm going to be the bad guy." Hades ragged.

"Let's face it you're most like our father, just as cruel and just as deceitful." Demeter said. Hades recoiled slightly at the mention of Kronos but then he looked ten times angrier.

"Why am I the one always compared with him? What did I do that was so cruel, I haven't exactly eaten my kids and I happen to have the unlucky task of watching over everyone when they die. So how in the name of my holy underwear am I the one most like him?"

"Yeah you just don't like my dad cos he took your daughter but really who has to put up with the screaming of the dead?" Nico asked. "Who has to keep an eye on his dad to make sure he doesn't get free? That's right my dad." He finished proudly. For a moment Hades looked smug but then that look melted like a shadow and he sat down.

"I'm sorry but your holy underwear? Is that really the best you could do?" Apollo sniggered.

"Don't insult him Apollo, his underwear does that already." Hermes said and both Gods cracked up laughing.

"Ahem." Hera coughed to get everyone's attention. "Hades underwear aside what are we going to do?"

"Uh read the books." Percy said, looking at her strangely.

"But if you're from the future couldn't you give us the shorter and less booky version?" Apollo asked eyeing the books like they were sins of humanity.

"A little reading will do you good Apollo." Athena said sternly. "I presume that your fates gave us these books so we would get all the detail. Am I correct?" She shot at Percy.

"As always Lady Athena you're spot on, Lord Apollo's fates offered this opportunity so we could prevent a lot of unnecessary deaths and fix camp Half-blood." Percy said with a small bow.

"So let's all take turns reading these books and hope they enlighten us towards a better future." The goddess said.

"Yes that seems wise, I think that I would like to start but first more comfortable seating arrangements should be in order." Hera said and she snapped her fingers, the throne room changed into a cosy living room with several armchairs and sofas. The seven demigods sat on two of the sofas, Hera and Zeus sat together as did Aphrodite and Ares. Hermes, Apollo and Artemis took another sofa. Poseidon, Demeter, Dionysus and Athena took armchairs. Hephaestus also took one but he moved it away from everyone else. Hades casually stretched himself out on the last remaining sofa.

"I think we can start now." Hera said.

"Wait where's Lady Hestia?" Percy asked.

"Hestia?" The Gods asked as if they had forgotten about her.

"Yes I want her to hear this as well, she is a good friend of ours in the future." Percy said.

"I am here." A voice said from near the fire place. A girl moved into view. "You wish to include me?"

"Of course." Percy said firmly. The goddess smiled and headed over to the seats, Hades moved his legs so she could sit down, she was his favourite relative except for Persephone.

"Now we are all here I will begin." Hera said. "The first one is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief."

**I accidently vaporize my Pre-Algebra teacher **


	2. Reading Chapter 1

**A special thanks to my beta reader Tom Marvolo Riddle 2: I hope you like it.**

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

The room snorted.

"How do you even do that?" Connor asked, Percy just shrugged.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Yeah 'cause the rest of us were just begging for it." Thalia said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh I thought I was the only one." Nico said sarcastically.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Seriously dude that wouldn't work." Travis said disbelievingly

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"Wuss." Ares said and Clarisse nodded in agreement.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"Why would we think this is fiction?" Athena asked. Percy shrugged and pointed at Apollo.

"Ask him they're his fates."

"You might as well ask Hades underwear." Hermes said. "Apollo barely pays attention to his fates."

"Would you stop going on about my underwear." Hades said.

"Yeah well passing over your underwear, I don't ignore my fates they just do what they want." Apollo protested.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"Well you didn't really warn us you just said bad stuff would happen." Ares muttered.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes." All the demigods said.

"If you're not troubled then I'm Barney the dinosaur." Thalia said.

"Sup Barney." Percy said grinning.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"You even admit it." Annabeth said.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mentalcase kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That's not boring." Athena and Annabeth said.

"Yes it is." Hermes said.

"It sounds like some form of torture." Apollo said.

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"See the kid agrees." Apollo said smirking slightly. Athena and Annabeth sent Percy death stares.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

"Oh so not the museum but the school." Athena said relaxing.

"I still think its torture." Apollo said.

"Yeah, hey Hades is that one of the punishments in the Field of Punishment?" Hermes asked.

Hades sighed. "I've told you I twist the punishment to fit the person so if someone hates museums that would be their punishment."

"How is that torture though?" Athena asked. Hades smiled evilly.

"Oh I don't know Athena I bet if I put those two in a museum they would start screaming in no time." He said pointing at Hermes and Apollo.

"Ah you wouldn't do that. Would you?" Apollo said in horror. He then ducked as Athena chucked a pillow at him.

"If you don't shut up I might." Hades said cruelly. Apollo shut up.

"Is that how you shut him up, just threaten him with a museum?" Artemis asked happily as if her prayers had been answered.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Sounds like Chiron." Dionysus muttered.

"It is." Annabeth said.

"Annabeth you're not supposed to tell them that." Percy said.

"Whoops." Annabeth blushed.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy, was I wrong.**

"How wrong exactly?" Poseidon asked with concern.

"You'll see." Percy said.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Dude what were you aiming for?" Connor asked.

"Seriously hitting the bus was a stroke of luck." Travis said then he grinned. "Hey bro are you thinking what I'm thinking."

"Oh yeah." His brother said with the same maniacal grin.

"If it's what I think you're doing can set the cannon off?" Clarisse asked.

"Sure why not." Connor shrugged.

"Yeah you've got better aim." Travis added. They all grinned at each other like lunatics.

"What are you talking about?" Thalia asked.

"Oh you know just shooting a cannon at the big house." Connor said airily.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

"Bet that was a shock." Apollo snorted.

"Oh no it was perfectly planned Apollo." Hermes said wisely. "You see Percy knew which lever was which and the class were all like push it down."

"Ah how did I not see that?" Apollo asked in mock surprise.

"Apollo, Hermes museum." Artemis warned. Both gods shut up.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"Yeah 'cause that'll work." Nico said sarcastically. "Like your plans always run smoothly."

"Oh yeah they always turn out perfectly." Thalia said in mock appreciation.

"Uh did I miss the part where you two become maniacal twins?" Percy asked.

"Yeah it was like last week." Thalia joked.

"Oh I thought it was ten days ago." Nico joked and they burst into laughter.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac**

"I swear she is not mine." Hermes said when all the gods looked at him.

**girl, hitting my best friend Grover**

"Wait does he mean that satyr who got my daughter killed?" Zeus asked angrily. Everyone thought it best not to tell him that it was.

**in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and ketchup sandwich. Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Oh that is so a satyr." Dionysus said.

"The same satyr?" Zeus asked eyes blazing.

"Dad it was not his fault it was my choice." Thalia said.

"He was meant to-." Zeus began but Thalia cut him off.

"No dad I told him to take the others and go, it was my choice." She said defiantly.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair,**

Zeus grinned horribly as if he was happy the satyr was being abused.

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death**

"Bit harsh isn't it." Apollo said.

"Nah that's perfectly fine." Ares said dismissively, Percy couldn't help giving him a death stare.

**by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Oh still harsh." Hermes said.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Please do." Clarisse said.

"And make it brutal." Ares added.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

"Seriously you didn't do it." Ares said in disbelief.

"Well now we know why he's not your kid." Apollo said.

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

"Geez it really does sound like torture." Apollo said only to be wacked by his sister.

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer I believe." Athena said.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

"Is she a kid of Ares?" Apollo asked.

"Nah maybe it's Ares himself." Hermes said.

"That is not me." Ares said angrily.

"Admit it you would run a Harley into someone's locker." Apollo said.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean it's me." Ares said.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"I wonder why?" Apollo asked sarcastically.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"Nope that's me." Nico said.

"Nah your death spawn, or earth spawn." Thalia said.

"Oh yay I've always wanted to be a piece of mud." Nico snorted.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to keep your cover." Dionysus snorted.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did." Annabeth sighed.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"Oh it just had to be that one." Hera said looking at the book with distaste.

"Why couldn't it have been something like a hero doing something?" Demeter groaned.

"That was not a fun experience." Poseidon said in memory of his head case father.

"Yeah well who said it was?" Hades asked pointedly.

"I didn't mind it so much." Zeus said, everyone looked at him.

"Last time I checked you weren't eaten." Poseidon said.

"Exactly."

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"He was not a god." Zeus roared.

"Brother peace he was just a boy then and I'm sure Chiron will correct him." Poseidon said.

"I don't care I should destroy him for that insult." Zeus yelled.

"You will do no such thing." Poseidon said. The other gods sighed as if this was a normal occurrence. The two brothers started yelling and swearing at each other using words I will not repeat.

"Would you two knock it off." Hera shouted and they stopped arguing.

"Hot damn that was one heck of an argument." Hermes whistled.

"I heard the word hot." Apollo said. "I assume you mean me."

"No I was talking about the argument." Hermes sighed.

"Still I'm smokin'." Apollo said.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"See." Poseidon said. Zeus looked ready to argue again.

"No don't start again." Hera said.

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, **

"See she like you best." Poseidon said.

"No she didn't she so-." Zeus began but Hera cut them off again.

"Look do you want to finish this book or not." She snapped.

**and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"Well they looked very similar." Hades said and Zeus looked about ready to kill someone but the other gods were trying to keep straight faces.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Yeah we did." Hermes said high fiving Apollo

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"I think it's very important." Athena sniffed.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." Hermes said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Ha you think like a satyr." Apollo said.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Nah horse ears." Apollo said.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld.**

"Which is right next to my palace." Hades pointed out.

"Sucks to be you uncle." Apollo said.

"In every possible way." Hermes added.

"I think we just lost a sex joke in that." Apollo sniggered, Hermes burst out laughing while the other gods rolled their eyes used to their antics.

**On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"They're always doofuses." Artemis said.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"They probably have." Apollo said.

"Apollo he's not that old." Athena cried.

"He's older than me right, that makes him ancient." Apollo said. Athena rolled her eyes.

"Apollo mate I think you just rolled a critical." Hermes said. They high fived again.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"I agree with Chiron this is very important." Athena said.

"What looking at dusty old statues." Hermes scoffed.

"Yeah he should learn how to fight." Ares added.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"Don't we all know that feeling." Thalia said.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. **

"I swear I could never do that." Athena said.

"Did he seriously do that?" Annabeth asked.

"Yep." Percy said, Thalia and Nico exchanged horrified looks while the Stoll's pretended to faint in horror. Clarisse just looked annoyed.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Huh sucks to be you too." Apollo said.

"Are you sure he's not Hades kid too I mean they both have the same terrible luck." Hermes said.

"He's not my child I didn't break the oath." Hades said shooting his brothers dirty looks.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was." Poseidon sighed all the other gods sighed as well thinking of lost mortals who they had fallen for, except Hera because you know the only mortal she liked was Jason.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

"Because when in doubt eat." Hermes said.

"Yes plenty of cereal." Demeter said.

"Oh not you and the bloody cereal again." Hades groaned.

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"Alright who did what?" Hera asked tiredly.

"How are we supposed to know?" Everyone asked indignantly.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes.**

"Father, why are you and Poseidon fighting?" Athena asked.

"What?" Said gods asked.

"The weather it's you two so what happened?" Athena asked again.

"And we're supposed to know how?" Poseidon asked.

**I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"Nice way to put it." Artemis said.

"Yeah what about camp half-blood?" Connor asked.

"I didn't know about it yet." Percy pointed out.

"Oh yeah…." Connor said.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better,**

"Are you kidding?" Clarisse asked. "Grover is the furthest thing from philosophical."

"I'm allowed to dream aren't I?" Percy pouted.

"Yeah but this is Grover." Thalia said as if this cleared everything up.

"He's done some pretty amazing things." Annabeth said in his defence.

"And since when did that make someone philosophical?" Nico asked.

"Since just now." Percy said.

**he said, "Can I have your apple?" I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

"Aw that's so cute of you." Aphrodite said.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"So sensitive to his mother." Hera said fondly. "You boys feel the same right?"

"Uh yes mummy." Ares mumbled.

"Yes mother." Hephaestus said not looking up from his invention.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"I want one." Apollo said.

"What a novel?" Hermes asked sarcastically.

"Yeah I want a really big novel all about the geography of the world." Apollo snorted.

"Ah I knew there was still hope for you." Artemis said.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Disgusting." Aphrodite squealed.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, **

"Finally he did something." Ares said triumphantly.

"Oooo do you kill her or maim her next?" Clarisse asked eagerly.

"Well I don't do anything more to her." Percy said grimly. Poseidon noticed his tone and flexed his arm in anticipation.

**screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Of course." Apollo muttered.

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." **

"Dude, never guess the punishment." Hermes chocked as if he was having a seizure.

"Are you like a moron or something?" Travis asked.

"Probably." Percy shrugged.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Well you don't say." Connor said.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her." I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

Hestia smiled, what a good friend.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You— will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. " Now." Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Is it any good?" Ares wanted to know.

"Oh yeah it scares everyone, well except Nico you know 'cause he's the Child of Hades." Thalia said.

"How is a death stare going to scare me?" Nico snorted. "I can just summon skeletons for that."

"Well I'm sorry Mr Ghost King for pointing it out." Thalia said.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

Poseidon looked uneasy.

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Somehow I don't think so." Poseidon murmured.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Well that's not a good sign." Poseidon murmured.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Of course it was." Poseidon said and everyone looked at him.

"Dad do you know what's going on?" Percy asked.

"I have an idea." He said shooting Hades a nasty look.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Right because that never happens." Annabeth said sarcastically.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. **

"Ha he has some skill, my faith is restored." Hermes said.

"Nice one bro." Travis and Connor said high fiving Percy.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade.**

"You deserve that." Annabeth said.

**Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"I don't see what's wrong with that." Athena said.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER HIM!" Poseidon roared at his brother. He jumped Hades and shoved him roughly to the floor. They began rolling around the floor fists locked.

"I didn't send it yet." Hades yelled and he kicked Poseidon right in the stomach sending him back into his chair. Hades scowled up at his brother. Poseidon took several deep breaths before locking eyes with Percy. An understanding passed.

"Sorry I don't really know what came over me." He said to Hades and offered his hand out. Hades rolled his eyes as if he was used to this sort of treatment and took it.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

Poseidon relaxed.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Oh so that's how you got the pen." Thalia said.

"No I got it at camp." Percy said.

"You might have missed a few things in tree time." Connor sniggered.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. **

"That's pathetic." Clarisse and Ares roared.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **

"Really a water analogy." Hermes said.

"Well he is Poseidon's kid." Artemis said.

"Talk about wordy connections." Apollo joked weakly.

**Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms**

"Right you somehow ate magic mushroom." Hermes said rolling his eyes.

**or something.**

"It's definitely something." Apollo snorted.

"Yeah and that something comes in the shape of a certain sea god." Hermes added.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"Nooo." Ares wailed.

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt." I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

"Hot damn the mist works fast." Hermes said.

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Great liar isn't he?" Dionysus said.

"This guy needs some lessons." Hermes said.

"We'll teach him." Travis and Connor said.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"See now Chiron can lie." Hermes said smugly as if he had taught the centaur everything.

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Really you just couldn't push the lie more could you." Apollo said.

"Well that's the chapter." Hera said. "Who's next?"

"Here let me." Annabeth said.

**Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death**


	3. Reading Chapter 2

**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

"Oh lovely." Poseidon said with a grimace.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. **

"But it wasn't a hallucination." Nico said.

"Yeah well I know that now." Percy said.

"But you couldn't guess?" Thalia asked.

"I think we all know I'm not a genius." Percy said.

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Wow the mist really works that well?" Apollo said.

"Man can you think how much stuff we could get away with in the mortal world?" Hermes said.

"Oh my pizzerias it would be brilliant." Apollo said longingly.

"No don't even think about it." Artemis said flatly.

"But-."

"I said no."

"What if we just."

"No."

"We aren't going to-."

"You know I reserve a special part of Hades for anyone who annoys me." Hades said.

"What?"

"Yep it's this huge museum full of old relics from-."

"No, no more spare us please." Hermes begged and Hades grinned evilly.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You are." Clarisse pointed out.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

"Who bets on the satyr?" Dionysus drawled.

"Um everyone." Connor said uncertainly.

"Yeah who else would it be?" Travis added.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"And you wanted us to bet?" Nico snorted.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"That would be enough to wake anyone up." Athena shivered.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Zeus and Poseidon looked uncomfortable.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

Athena shot him a look.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends.**

"Wohoo." Ares cheered.

**I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"It means drunkard." Dionysus said.

"And you'd know all about drunk people." Apollo sniggered.

"Hey do remember that time in San Diego?" Hermes asked Apollo.

"Oh heck yes man those were the days."

"Didn't you fall headfirst into some beer?" Artemis asked.

"Yep."

"I can't believe we're siblings."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"Well no surprises there." Apollo snorted.

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"Awww." The girls cooed.

"I've never been homesick." Nico said.

"It's not like you have a home to be sick for." Percy snapped irritated. Nico paled.

"Geez thanks for reminding me." He snarled.

"Oh relax Nico, I've never been homesick either." Thalia said patting Nico's arm. Percy blinked.

"Sorry Nico I didn't mean it." He said.

"It's fine." Nico said.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Poseidon flexed his arm again, which means he's worried in case you're wondering.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees.**

"I like the sound of this place." Demeter said softly.

**I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"That's very kind." Hestia said.

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"That's nice." Athena said.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Your instinct finally kicking in." Zeus said.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

"What!" Annabeth exclaimed.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"Oh Charon would hate you for that." Hades said.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"I forgot how difficult another language is." Connor grumbled.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"You're such sweet boy." Aphrodite cooed.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir." I froze.**

"You eavesdropped?" Travis asked. Percy nodded.

"I'm starting to like this kid more." Apollo said.

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"I would fail miserably." Hermes said.

"We all would." Clarisse pointed out. "But you don't need any incentive."

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school!**

Poseidon shot Hades a nasty look.

**Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"Ignorance is never bliss." Athena sighed.

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"You never should have been given another chance." Zeus snarled. Thalia rolled her eyes.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—" The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. **

"Abort mission I repeat abort mission." Travis said.

"Remove all evidence I repeat remove all evidence." Connor added.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Yes he'll make it." Hermes said.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

"Good thinking." Apollo nodded approvingly.

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"What happened at the winter solstice?" The gods asked.

"I bet Hades did something." Demeter said.

"I'm right here you know." Hades grumbled.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

"Ohh exams have got to suck since satyrs have to do them over and over again." Clarisse said.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

"Another good idea." Hermes said.

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, **

"Well that won't work satyrs can read emotions." Dionysus snorted.

**and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"No you have to believe." Apollo sang.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"Well he's getting there." Ares grumbled.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best." His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"Does she have a crush on you?" Nico asked.

"NO!" Percy yelled.

"Okaaaay calm down." Nico said hastily.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Ouch." Apollo said.

"He's not really giving the best pep talk." Hermes said.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

"And there goes any hope you had of a normal conversation." Hermes said shaking his head.

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

"Not the best idea." Athena said shaking her head.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Hey what about us?" Apollo moaned.

"I didn't know about you." Percy pointed out.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

"Dude that's terrible." Conner said.

"How do you like survive?" Travis asked.

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Well what did you expect?" Clarisse scoffed.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Bet that'll shock him." Thalia muttered.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?" I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"Really you admitted to it." Hermes said face palming.

"We have so much to teach you." Travis and Connor said.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"So basically you heard everything." Nico said.

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

"You're really going to try now?" Dionysus asked.

"You do realise you're asking a book?" Apollo asked.

"Oh so when you do it its fine but when I do it it's dumb." Dionysus growled.

"Nope we just expect stupidity from Apollo." Artemis said.

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Way to be blunt." Annabeth said rolling her eyes.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

"I hate those cards." Clarisse growled.

"Ha what are you going to do about it?" Dionysus asked.

"Well maybe if I rearrange your face." Clarisse threatened.

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Dude harsh." Nico, Connor and Travis said.

"Not cool." Apollo, Hermes and Thalia said.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Oh well at least he didn't mean it." Annabeth said.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

"What an amazing friend." Hestia said. Percy smiled at her.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?" There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. **

"That's not a good sign." Poseidon said.

**The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"That's random." Athena said but Apollo sat bolt upright.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice . There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Apollo cursed under his breath and paled slightly. Poseidon flexed his arm noticing his nephew's reaction.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

All the gods exchanged looks.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Poseidon looked very and I mean very worried at this point.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"This is no joke." Apollo said. Everyone looked at him, normally he was such a laid back guy but at that moment he looked nothing like the sun god more like the god of prophecy giving someone a horrible fate. It confirmed everyone's worst fear. They were his fates.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.**

Poseidon inhaled sharply.

**I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

"Do it." Poseidon begged.

"That wouldn't change anything." Apollo said.

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

Poseidon let out a horrible groan and buried his face in his hands.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"Really they could have been for a god." Hermes joked weakly.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

"Convenient." Hades said.

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"Oh so now it's just last time is it?" Zeus snarled.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

"Ahem we're all alive." Thalia said.

"Thalia you're talking to a book." Nico said and Thalia nudged him.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Cos that won't freak him out." Ares snorted.

"Chapter done." Annabeth said quietly and she laid the book on the table. Poseidon snatched it up.

**Grover unexpectedly loses his pants.**


	4. Reading Chapter 3

**GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS**

"This sounds interesting." Apollo said in a forced light hearted voice.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal. **

"Well he was freaking you out." Annabeth reasoned.

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"Freaking genius isn't he." Nico snorted.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

"You took a cab after seeing his fates?" Aphrodite asked incredulously.

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver. A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, **

Poseidon smiled.

**which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"True story." Thalia said.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma. **

"Oh man that has got to be hard." Connor said sympathetically.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Poseidon grinned.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

Poseidon frowned Percy made it sound like he ditched her. Really the guy was a love sick fool.

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Oh my she has a way with words." Aphrodite giggled.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. **

"She's a good mother." Hera sighed.

"I think I'll give her that diploma." Athena said.

**But I knew I wasn't an easy kid. Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk.**

"You're stepfather?" Annabeth asked. Percy frowned then nodded.

**When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"How disgusting." Demeter said.

"Eww." Aphrodite said in agreement.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

Poseidon growled.

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"It really doesn't." Aphrodite said.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds.**

Poseidon growled louder.

**He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

Poseidon stopped reading and looked murderous.

"Percy." He began trying to keep his voice steady. "Did this _asshole_ ever hit you or Sally?"

Percy hesitated for a moment and Annabeth held his hand consolingly. Then he nodded. Poseidon let out a bull-like roar. Several boats had just sunk and a mini hurricane hit Italy.

"Dad calm down." Percy said. "I'm still here." Poseidon looked at his son for a full five minutes before deciding that he was okay and continued reading.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"So that's why." Athena muttered. Everyone looked at her. "She married him to cover up Percy's scent." Percy nodded.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"At least one of them is nice." Hestia said.

**"Am I right? " Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"Yuck." Aphrodite said.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!" I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"I really hate this guy." Apollo said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Hey Hades-." Hermes began.

"Don't even ask." Hades interrupted.

"But we all hate this guy." Artemis said.

"Look just because we don't like him doesn't mean I'm going to kill him." Hades snorted.

"But can't you." Apollo said. Hades looked annoyed.

"I'm not going to kill him, how about I send his soul to Tartarus when he dies." Hades said.

"You can do that?" Percy asked.

"Yes."

"Can I get that in writing or make you swear on the river Styx?" Percy asked.

"Why?" Hades asked.

"Well a very wise god once told me if I want a promise to stick, it should be made on the river Styx's." Percy replied.

"Fine I swear on the river Styx that when." Hades paused. "What's his name?"

"Gabe Ugliano." Percy said.

"When Gabe Ugliano dies he will enter Tartarus." Hades sighed as the thunder clapped.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

"You just had to remind us." Apollo groaned.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"Wow awesome." Thalia said.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

Poseidon was grinning like a maniac.

"Oh did you love her?" Aphrodite asked not missing it.

"Yes, I would have made my immoral wife if I wasn't already married." Poseidon sighed.

"Don't let Amphrite hear that." Hera said.

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" **

"Well people do that." Travis said.

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home. We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay?**

**Was her little boy doing all right?**

"Must be nice to have a mum." Nico said thoughtfully. Everyone looked at him.

"But didn't you have a mother?" Hestia asked.

"Yes but she… she died when I was… um I don't remember." Nico shook his head. "I've only seen a memory of her."

"You can blame your uncle for that." Hades snarled. Zeus shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"You killed this boy's mother?" Hera asked.

"Well I didn't mean to kill her, just the kids."

"That's worse." Poseidon said.

"Hey it's fine I don't remember anything so it's not like I can miss her." Nico protested. Poseidon sighed and continued to read.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"Sweet boy." Hera said.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?" I gritted my teeth.**

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"I agree." Aphrodite said.

"As the goddess of marriage I'm going to have to change this." Hera said.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

"Man you really want to please her." Clarisse said. "Mommas boy."

"Hey his mum is awesome." Thalia said.

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets.**

**"Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"She's smart woman I doubt it would surprise her." Athena said and Poseidon chuckled.

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach." My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

"I met her there." Poseidon said fondly.

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

Poseidon growled.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" I wanted to punch him, **

"Do it." Ares said.

"Don't encourage him." Apollo said. "Although I'd do it."

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip." Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"That's no fair." Connor said.

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works." Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"He has a budget on clothes?" Aphrodite asked with distaste.

"Well babe not everyone can change their appearance like you." Ares pointed out.

"Still."

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week. But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"What's stopping you kid." Hermes moaned.

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

"Really Poseidon your kid is the king of sarcasm." Apollo said.

"Nah Nico is." Percy said.

"Why thank-you." Nico said with a mock bow.

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"What brain?" Annabeth asked.

"I never said he could have one." Athena said.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

"Well she knows what's going on." Hephaestus said. Everyone stared. "So now I can't talk? Okay then." And he went back to his invention.

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. **

"You shouldn't ignore your instincts Percy." Poseidon said gently.

"Yeah I know."

**She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78**

**Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"Yes because he'll be driving." Apollo said.

"Did you foresee that?" Hermes joked.

"Yes Percy will drive the car into a ditch and then Smelly will turn into a sloth and live in it." Apollo said wisely. Both gods cracked up while the others supressed small smiles.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"Unfair much." Travis and Connor said.

"You two can't talk, you tried to leg it with the camps SUV." Annabeth pointed out.

"Yeah and someone busted us." They said glaring at Annabeth. The others laughed.

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

"Yes he did something." Ares said triumphantly.

"I hope that left permanent damage." Demeter said.

"Don't we all." Poseidon growled.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

"Nice kid." Hermes nodded.

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders **

Annabeth and Athena shuddered.

**in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. I loved the place.**

"Only you could seaweed brain." Thalia said rolling her eyes.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

Poseidon smiled.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

Poseidon sighed and paused for a moment lost in memory.

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Please do." Apollo said.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. **

"I bet it wasn't." Hermes said. Aphrodite looked at Poseidon then giggled.

**But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Wait I thought you got your rebellious streak from your dad." Thalia said.

"Ah so he's doubly cursed." Nico said.

"Explains why he's so thick." Clarisse said.

"He's not thick." Annabeth said. "He's just impulsive."

"All kids of the big three are." Thalia pointed out.

"I'm not that impulsive." Nico said.

"Who accepted the help of a ghost immediately?" Percy pointed out. Nico rubbed his arm.

"Alright so I'm impulsive but not as impulsive as you." He retorted.

"Point taken." Percy said.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. **

Poseidon shot Zeus an angry look as if it was his fault the plane crashed. Probably was.

**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. **

Percy felt a lump rise in his throat thinking about his mother.

**Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

"Sweet." Hera said.

"Now that is something I would love to hear from my children." Demeter said.

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

Poseidon grinned.

"You do realise these looks got me branded a rebel the second I waked into a school." Percy said.

"But you are a rebel." Apollo said.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

"I am." Poseidon said.

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"I'm still very proud of you." Poseidon said sadly.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?" She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

"Ouch." Connor winced.

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"So you visited the boy?" Hestia asked.

"Yes when he was a few month old." Poseidon replied.

"I knew I didn't imagine it." Percy said triumphantly.

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ... I felt angry at my father. **

Poseidon winced and Percy looked ashamed.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Poseidon winced again.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?" She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?" **

"That is not the best thing to say." Hermes said softly. The gods looked at him, he was wise sure but to understand what you should say to a parent? That was new.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out. **

"At least he regrets it." Hera said.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away." Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

"Uh-huh." Apollo said.

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"Seriously kid how dense can you get?" Apollo said.

"Uh hello I never met my dad, not really, so how was I supposed to know." Percy said.

"Still." Apollo said. "Even I can tell you aren't normal and that's saying something."

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

"Hmm I don't know, pudding?" Hermes suggested.

"Bad diet?" Demeter suggested.

"Loving girlfriend?" Aphrodite suggested.

"War?" Ares suggested.

"Me?" Hades suggested.

"And round three goes to Hades." Apollo said.

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Huh, sorry about that." Poseidon said.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Probably me keeping an eye on you." Poseidon said.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Hey isn't that what Heracles did." Annabeth frowned.

"Yes." Hera said.

"Weren't you the one that put the snake there?" Annabeth asked.

"So what if I did." Hera said her face red.

"Oh nothing." Annabeth said.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"Seriously boy you need to learn when to talk and when not to talk." Hephaestus said.

"Yeah I know." Percy said.

"You also need to sort out your priorities." Nico said.

"And your personal hygiene." Thalia added.

"And your ability to steal." Connor said.

"And lie." Travis added.

"And to stop being an idiot." Annabeth said.

"And to stop being the hero all the time." Clarisse said.

"Are we done insulting me?" Percy asked exasperated.

"Well no there's probably more stuff but we can talk later." Apollo said.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

"That's such a loving mother." Hera said.

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp." My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

"Well maybe she didn't want to lose you." Hestia said.

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

"This is how they usually die." Dionysus said.

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

"Is our camp that bad?" Annabeth asked.

"Nah." Percy said.

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

All the demigods winced.

"I hate the dream." Clarisse muttered.

"They suck." Nico agreed.

"Percy's are always worse." Annabeth said sadly.

"Mine subsided when I became a hunter." Thalia said.

"Lucky." Percy said.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. **

"I've got it." Athena said. "Someone stole Zeus' master bolt and he's blaming Poseidon."

"Got it in one." Percy said.

"Yeah but it's a bit more complicated." Annabeth pointed out.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

Zeus and Poseidon shot Hades demon looks.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

**I woke with a start.**

"I bet you did." Apollo said sympathetically.

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

"What the pizzas did someone kick you in the soft spot uncle?" Apollo asked.

"He did probably." Poseidon said pointing at Zeus.

"I can kick you there right now Poseidon." Zeus snarled.

"Bring it on momma's boy." Poseidon growled.

"Enough." Hera shrieked. "Sit own now." The gods looked at her then sighed and sat down.

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane." I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.**

"I bet it did." Poseidon growled.

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

"And now it comes out." Hermes said.

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! **

"What's right behind you?" Poseidon asked.

"You don't want to know." Percy said.

**Didn't you tell her?" I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

"Well his covers blown." Dionysus said.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"Yeah I'm guessing she didn't take it too well." Apollo said.

"She took it better than most people." Percy said.

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go! " Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"And now we now he's a satyr." Dionysus said.

"Just in case you didn't know before." Apollo added.

"Who's going to read next?" Poseidon asked.

"Here let me." Clarisse said.

**My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**


End file.
